Kept it’s cap
First find of the day was this bright yellow larva on a piece of grass!
The Eastern Tent caterpillars are growing!
Getting more colorful every day!
Last year we put up new nestboxes after our original boxes fell apart. We used regular zip ties and they deteriorated after one season. This year going with old copper wire that was laying around.
Lots of critters make the nestboxes their homes. Pretty cool!
This spider was on the outside of the box above. I don’t know if the cocoon is its or not.
This was inside of one of the nestboxes I was rehanging. I didn’t notice this till I brought this up on the computer screen…see the tiny pearls inside of a couple the chambers? Ideas?
The Greeneyes (Berlandiera betonicifolia) are starting to come up. This is one of my favorite flowers at our home. They have yellow ray flowers with a greenish disk flowers. Another common name for them is the Chocolate flower. They can bloom all summer if there is a dash rain here and there.
Close up. The leaves are crenate or blunt toothed.
This belongs to the Leaf Beetles (Chrysomelidae). I will even go so far as think it could be of the genus Disonycha. It was weird however when it jumped off the back door. It landed upside down. Then when I righted it and then nudged it again, it jumped and was upside down again. Update: BugGuide tentatively ID’ed as Kuschelina petaurista which is part of the tribe Flea Beetles (Alticini) under the Leaf Beetles (Chrysomelidae).
This stinkhorn looks like it kept it’s cap on. Never seen one do this before; of course there are a lot of things I haven’t seen LOL.
Keep looking!
Could the things in the wasp nest be pupae? I assume they overwinter as pupae since so many things do, but I don't know.
I love the beetle. I think it was just playin ‘possum’.
Judy, I bet you are right. A very good idea!
Claire, I finally looked it up. The life cycle is egg (2-5 days), then the larva emerges and gets fed by the adults, then when larva is ready to pupae, it covers up the cell. When ready, emerges. The paper wasps overwinter as adults. Interesting indeedy!
Yes those pearls are eggs that mever hatched.
Suzanne, Thanks! I figured they were last years eggs because it was from the nestbox that I had left on the ground all winter. Never seen the eggs before and they sure are pretty.